I am not questioning a woman's career choices here. Not everyone can take time off from her job to bring up her child - every family has a different financial obligation. Nor am I implying that employing an ayah is a cardinal sin. It's the parental avoidance in child-rearing that baffles me. If from bathing to feeding to napping all the harder tasks have been outsourced - what's left of parenting?

Every time we were travelling out of Brisbane (our last city of residence), I'd be routinely put through a "random body scan" by airport security. This diligence wasn't just restricted to airports. Even the lady at a particular store would make it a point to stop me at the exit to check my bag. The steward at the restaurant would ask us twice if we knew it was beef we had just ordered.

I am convinced about the sheer versatility of this bedsheet-like garment. It can be worn 'Full Mast' or 'Half Mast' like a national flag. Go full-mast for the demure look and half if you are feeling naughty! And you don't have to restrict yourself to boring neutrals, checks and stripes.

India has a vocal constituency of sentimental citizens who can draw from neat buckets of topics like minority, religion, region, caste, gotras and the ever obliging 'sanskriti' so that they are never short of sentiments that can get hurt at any point of 'time'.

In my distorted opinion, we women spend 33.3% of our lives complimenting each other about our looks. One look at a new profile pic on a social networking site and you'll know what I'm talking about. Out of the 55 comments she gets, 49 will be from her girlfriends -- Ooh, you gorgeous thing! Again there's a secret pact. In a parallel universe it's called reciprocity. You praise me and I will praise you back -- get it?

In my glamorous village Gurgaon, spotting a woman in a sari is akin to spotting a tiger in the forest reserves of Sariska! Strangely, when she gets together with her friends, all she does is crib about saris collecting dust in her closet.

Bengalis, especially in Kolkata, have a special relationship with winter. The moment the temperature drops down to 25°C, doting moms mummify the apples of their eyes under layers of sweaters and bandor toopis (monkey caps), lest they catch a cold.

Strangely, these mythical creatures were nowhere to be found in real life. If they were silent and brooding, they were mind-numbingly boring. The strong-silent type was emotionally challenged. If he was drop-dead gorgeous, he fancied himself as God's gift to mankind and they were all broke and Mama's boys. You wanted to be treated like a Princess, instead he wanted you to treat him like a King.

Long before the world discovered a fashion phenomenon called sleeveless, sleeveless discovered the Bengali woman. This was the time that Marxism was still a respected ideology in Bengal when the bhodromohila embraced the sleeveless blouse and sent the dormant hormones of the bhodrolok on an overdrive.

The government in its hurry to demonstrate its earnestness not only banned Uber for negligence but other app based cab services as well, in turn rendering thousands of taxi drivers jobless, including the honest ones who did their job sincerely.